St. Louis Cardinals
The Redbirds turned their ship around just in time. Coming off of 4 consecutive last-place finishes and playing in a city that, increasingly. only has the funds available to support one team, the Cardinals improved 11 games and 5 places in the standings to earn their first .500 finish since 1925 and the first time they ended as high as 3rd since 1923. This is not a team with a long history of success but perhaps it is time for them to begin anew.
Not only was this team actually pretty good, but they were fun to watch as well. They were 72-60 against teams not named the New York Giants; so long as the Gothamers weren't around, you could count on these boys to make a game of it most times out. They had the youngest offense and defense in the major leagues by a fairly large margin. The kids on the offensive side of things led the way with speed and power - always the most enjoyable aspects of a baseball game - and with the pitching, the kids led the National League in setting down opponents without giving them a chance to put the ball in play.
The future is so bright, we might have to purchase some of those tinted spectacles the kids go on about.
Code:
Record overall 77-77, .500 PCT 3rd, 33.0 GB
Home 35-42, .455 PCT
Road 42-35, .545 PCT
X-inning games 7-6, .538 PCT
One-run games 21-19, .525 PCT
Versus LHP 14-20, .412 PCT
Versus RHP 63-57, .525 PCT
April 6-2, .750 PCT
May 12-16, .429 PCT
June 12-15, .444 PCT
July 16-12, .571 PCT
August 12-16, .429 PCT
September 16-12, .571 PCT
October 3-4, .429 PCT
Team Batting Stats & Rankings
Batting Average .291 - 4th in NL
On-Base Percentage .346 - 4th in NL
Slugging Percentage .423 - 4th in NL
On-Base + Slugging .770 - 4th in NL
Runs Scored 803 - 5th in NL
Hits 1620 - 5th in NL
Extra-Base Hits 448 - 7th in NL
Home Runs 116 - 3rd in NL
Bases-On-Balls 476 - 5th in NL
Strikeouts 475 - 3rd in NL
Stolen Bases 77 - 1st in NL
Team Pitching Stats & Rankings
Earned Run Average 4.44 - 4th in NL
Starters' ERA 4.42 - 4th in NL
Bullpen ERA 4.55 - 5th in NL
Runs allowed 849 - 5th in NL
Hits allowed 1621 - 5th in NL
Opponents AVG .290 - 5th in NL
BABIP .311 - 6th in NL
Home Runs allowed 75 - 1st in NL
Bases-On-Balls 557 - 6th in NL
Strikeouts 553 - 1st in NL
Pitching
Mr. Perfect John Porter is a man who leads by example rather than by charisma. Nonetheless, he's a perfect staff ace. Porter converted from the bullpen this season, and while many wondered if he'd have the stamina to take the ball every fourth day he turned out to be pretty well-suited to the task. As it turns out you don't need to throw that many pitches if you stay within the strike zone at all times. Mr. Perfect has a fastball that occasionally reaches 100 miles per hour but it's fairly straight and he doesn't have a lot of other pitches. As noted, though, nobody can place it for strikes like this man can.
Adrian Cutright is only 24 but seems to have reached the edge of his potential. He does throw three pitches well and doesn't get rattled too easily, but his control is still a bit on the iffy side. He missed the last couple weeks of the season with a bad shoulder injury. Ken Stinson, the other young'un called on to pitch a lot last year, had a rough follow-up year to a promising 1931 campaign. A closer look, however, reveals that his peripherals were almost identical in both the years. He did give up six more homers but by and large the boys behind him weren't making as many plays in '32 as before.
Code:
Player Age W L Pct G GS SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA VORP
John Porter 30 20 10 0.667 37 37 0 283.1 306 101 11 17 137 3.21 72.1
Adrian Cutright 24 13 16 0.448 35 35 0 264.2 305 135 9 159 122 4.59 24.1
Ken Stinson 23 10 20 0.333 37 33 0 247.2 308 138 15 111 96 5.01 11.5
Woody Harlow 26 9 9 0.500 27 20 0 151 189 91 14 96 60 5.42 -0.1
Rich Stewart 25 5 6 0.455 14 14 0 103 112 35 9 19 32 3.06 27.8
Carl Parham 24 4 3 0.571 35 3 6 89 85 39 0 60 30 3.94 15.1
George McCall 25 4 5 0.444 12 12 0 75 107 47 7 27 12 5.64 -2.1
Bob Wilk 23 8 6 0.571 41 0 8 71 87 39 3 17 33 4.94 3.6
Reggie Carmody 30 2 1 0.667 15 0 4 23.1 21 8 1 11 10 3.09 6.3
Steve Castellon 23 1 0 1.000 15 0 1 19.2 35 12 3 11 5 5.49 -0.2
Mike Fritch 24 0 0 0.000 9 0 0 16.1 17 8 0 14 3 4.41 1.6
Lamont Hall 21 0 0 0.000 8 0 0 15 20 14 2 10 12 8.40 -5.7
Damon Hackworth 19 0 0 0.000 6 0 0 8.1 20 7 1 3 0 7.56 -2.2
Ray Bell 20 1 1 0.500 4 0 0 6 9 4 0 2 1 6.00 -0.4
Team Totals 24.1 77 77 0.500 295 154 19 1373.1 1621 678 75 557 553 4.44 151.3
Catcher/First Base
Anastasio Rodriguez, the 1932 Gold Glove award winner at catcher, is a great human interest story as well. In 1926 the Mexican backstop got some chance to play with the Chicago Cubs but did not impress, and by early 1927 he was out the door. He spent an entire year outside of American baseball before the Cardinals gave him another look. What did he do in the interim? Play baseball, of course. "Mexico has a very very big baseball program", he told us. "I hit a lot of baseballs." He's been a starter for the Cards since 1929 and every year seems to add a new wrinkle to his game. This year it was defense. His arm and range have never been more than average but he seemed to step that up a level.
Fernando Dominguez has been considered a disappointment the last couple years because he hasn't been able to follow up his 27-homer, 115 RBI 1930 with anything approaching those levels. The Cards have to be at least somewhat satisfied with his performance, though, after picking him up from the Boston Braves for a couple of prospects. The 1927 AL MVP's best days might be behind him but he still has quite a bit of pop in his bat.
Code:
Pos Player Age G GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS VORP
C Anastasio Rodríguez 32 132 132 529 77 168 24 0 15 81 0 0 48 49 0.318 0.374 0.448 0.822 24.4
C Mal Smithson 28 34 23 105 20 35 6 1 2 16 0 0 2 12 0.333 0.339 0.467 0.806 4.2
1B Fernando Domínguez 35 108 108 417 68 129 13 2 17 73 0 0 69 49 0.309 0.410 0.472 0.883 19.6
1B Norm Burnett 23 18 3 31 2 7 3 0 1 6 1 0 2 3 0.226 0.273 0.419 0.692 -0.8
1B Dan Lindholm 19 2 1 6 1 2 0 0 1 5 0 0 0 1 0.333 0.333 0.833 1.167 1.0
Infield
It can be charitably said that the infield provides a lot of opportunity for improvement. Dan Manning was given an opportunity to play full-time following a 1931 campaign that saw him hit .338 and he kind of flubbed it. He hit fairly well but that .293 average of his was completely empty. He's a player whose skills are better suited for the dead ball era than 1932. It wouldn't be out of the question for a guy his age to suddenly gain a little bit of power but the odds are against it.
Chris Schultz was only supposed to be a stopgap but really he wasn't even that. He hit .310 coming out of the gate but after a May that saw him hit .200/.227/.314 he was exiled to the bench and only kept getting at-bats because of injuries. His nominal replacement Tom Banks built on a bad season of his own (1931, when he hit .217 with just 4 homers), but still is probably not the wave of the future.
Shortstop by default was the least scary of the positions, at least when you omit the July-August experiment with Brian Bandy. Bandy actually may well have what it takes to be a regular in this league. At age 20 he was just overwhelmed. The experiment was made necessary by the loss of Bob Nowlin to a broken hand. Nowlin missed almost all of 1931 with a pinched nerve in his neck and while the Cards are happy to bring him back (previously he played for them from 1920-27), questions are beginning to be asked about his durability. He is beginning to show his age in the field as well.
Code:
Pos Player Age G GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS VORP
2B *Dan Manning 26 117 112 440 61 129 9 3 4 50 20 9 37 35 0.293 0.345 0.355 0.700 -5.9
2B Dennis Snoddy 36 46 35 159 23 50 7 2 3 28 1 0 8 21 0.314 0.359 0.440 0.799 8.3
2B Alvin Rourke 27 27 26 100 8 21 2 2 0 9 0 0 7 17 0.210 0.259 0.270 0.529 -5.2
3B Tom Banks 24 109 102 392 51 107 11 1 8 54 0 0 45 31 0.273 0.351 0.367 0.718 -1.0
3B Chris Schultz 32 84 72 272 25 59 15 1 6 33 0 0 13 23 0.217 0.251 0.346 0.596 -20.6
SS #Bob Nowlin 33 77 76 301 42 90 30 6 0 49 4 6 37 27 0.299 0.369 0.439 0.808 6.1
SS Brian Bandy 20 47 42 151 21 35 3 0 1 8 2 0 5 14 0.232 0.264 0.272 0.536 -12.4
Outfield
As bad as the infield was, the outfield was spectacular. The Cards boasted two guys who are locks to be in the All-Star Game this season (fine. the cat's out of the bag. i'll let this go this once - ed.) and a third who could easiy progress to that level. What's more, there will be no Ray Thompson out there this year. Thompson, who held the NL homerun record previous to this season, had become increasingly enamored with the long ball and turned into a guy who did little but hit high, easy pop-ups. His departure opened the way for Matt Oliver, whose future is probably at first base but who hit well enough to make the Cards momentarily forget about all of his mistakes in left field.
George Halter isn't a man prone to mistakes. In 1932 he hit leadoff for the Redbirds all year long, set a personal high in at-bats, and set a National League record with 56 two-base hits. He's better suited for a corner outfield slot but is mostly adequate in center. In right, Paul Fults did a solid job after being handed the full-time job in April. He's a gritty player known for grinding it out on the basepaths and shutting opponents down with a strong arm.
Code:
Pos Player Age G GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS VORP
LF *Matt Oliver 24 129 129 501 80 181 33 6 24 88 0 0 56 36 0.361 0.422 0.595 1.017 59.3
LF *Glen Martin 24 32 8 54 8 13 3 0 4 11 0 0 5 7 0.241 0.305 0.519 0.824 0.2
CF George Halter 31 151 151 675 129 228 56 17 15 89 24 18 44 31 0.338 0.379 0.538 0.917 47.9
CF *Don McAvoy 26 56 3 63 6 19 3 0 0 6 0 1 4 4 0.302 0.343 0.349 0.692 -1.3
RF *Paul Fults 25 150 146 646 107 197 31 15 9 78 19 13 43 26 0.305 0.349 0.441 0.790 14.3
RF *Ray Thompson 32 52 42 153 24 32 3 2 5 28 5 8 32 10 0.209 0.344 0.353 0.697 -9.2
RF Henry Tyler 25 35 18 91 10 30 6 0 0 10 1 0 7 10 0.330 0.378 0.396 0.773 2.5
RF Ernie Elliott 23 3 3 12 1 3 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0.250 0.250 0.500 0.750 0.1
Code:
Team Totals 25.9 1704 1386 5573 803 1620 274 58 116 755 77 55 476 475 0.291 0.346 0.423 0.770 137.0